Though it made sense on the surface, anyone with eyes could see that Wang Tuoguai was targeting Lu Xiaotian. But Lu Xiaotian was the weakest among the cultivators, alone and outnumbered. If he hadn't been of some use to the others with his formations, he probably wouldn't have survived this long.
For a while, Lu Xiaotian had no good way to deal with Wang Tuoguai's antagonism. When they obtained the Primordial Spirit essence of the Emperor-Eyed Demon Deer this time, he had nearly come to blows with Wang Tuoguai. Usually, he hadn't said much when Wang Tuoguai contested him for things, but the Primordial Spirit essence of a ninth-rank demon beast was different. The two had reached an impasse. Wang Tuoguai had first obtained the essence, and Lu Xiaotian hadn't said anything at the time. Instead, he had immediately slacked off, claiming his Spiritual Sense hadn't recovered, and led everyone to make slow progress for over a month.
The others had grown dissatisfied, but Lu Xiaotian had simply blamed it all on his Spiritual Sense not having recovered and his inability to break many restrictions for the time being.
Even Chi Yunsang hadn't expected Lu Xiaotian to be so resolute. Still, from Lu Xiaotian's perspective, it made sense. Searching for and breaking restrictions required extensive formation calculations, which consumed a great deal of Spiritual Sense. The others suspected that the Primordial Spirit essence might be more important to Lu Xiaotian than he let on, but over the past few years, they had indeed relied heavily on him as their formation master. Seeing him take such a hard line, and finding that even Chi Yunsang's persuasion had no effect, they could only urge Wang Tuoguai to yield. Anyone could see that Wang Tuoguai didn't truly need the essence. They lacked a